Hot Potato: Difference between revisions

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Compare [[Keep-Away]] (where characters pass the thing around because they don't want ''someone else'' to get it) and [[Clingy MacGuffin]] (where the thing works more like a boomerang).

Not to be confused with the [[Game Show]] ''[[Hot Potato (TV)|Hot Potato]]'', or with one of the earliest [[Ear Worm|ear worms]] by [[The Wiggles]].

Not to be confused with the [[Game Show]] ''[[Hot Potato (TV series)|Hot Potato]]'', or with one of the earliest [[Ear Worm|ear worms]] by [[The Wiggles]].

See also [[Grenade Hot Potato]].

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== [[Literature]] ==

* The [[Douglas Adams]] novel ''[[The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul]]'' has a legal contract that's called (and metaphorically acts as) a hot potato: It gives you [[Deal ~~With~~ the Devil|incredible wealth]], as long as you can manage to sign it over to someone else before it becomes due.

* The [[Douglas Adams]] novel ''[[The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]]'' has a legal contract that's called (and metaphorically acts as) a hot potato: It gives you [[Deal with the Devil|incredible wealth]], as long as you can manage to sign it over to someone else before it becomes due.

* In the Robert Louis Stevenson short story ''The Bottle Imp'' the demon trapped in the bottle grants wishes, subject to three rules:

** Wishes cannot extend your natural lifespan.

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== [[Video Games]] ==

* The Thundercloud item from ''Mario Kart Wii'', which can be passed along by other racers. The racer that holds onto the thundercloud for a long period of time and can't pass the item to a nearby racer will get zapped by the cloud's lighting bolt.

* One of the ''[[~~Mario Party (Video Game)|~~Mario Party]]'' games has a four-player mini-game in which players toss a Bob-omb among themselves, trying to avoid holding it when it explodes.

* One of the ''[[Mario Party]]'' games has a four-player mini-game in which players toss a Bob-omb among themselves, trying to avoid holding it when it explodes.

** Another involved eight people (four teams of two) but not only is the person holding the bomb but the people next to the bomb holder also are taken out till either the partners are left or if only two opponents then the bomb only takes out one.

** Preceding the ''[[~~Mario Party (Video Game)|~~Mario Party]]'' example is a minigame from ''[[Yoshis Island ~~(Video Game)~~|Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island]]'', where the player (Yoshi) and an AI-controlled Bandit pass an inflating balloon back and forth. A random button sequence is displayed onscreen and must be entered quickly to pass the balloon. If the Bandit is holding the balloon when it bursts, you win one or more extra lives. The SNES version also had a code to play a 2-player version of it (with no prizes regardless of who wins).

** Preceding the ''[[Mario Party]]'' example is a minigame from ''[[Yoshis Island|Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island]]'', where the player (Yoshi) and an AI-controlled Bandit pass an inflating balloon back and forth. A random button sequence is displayed onscreen and must be entered quickly to pass the balloon. If the Bandit is holding the balloon when it bursts, you win one or more extra lives. The SNES version also had a code to play a 2-player version of it (with no prizes regardless of who wins).

* Any halfway decent match of [[Super Smash Brothers]] Brawl with Smash Balls enabled will invoke the [[Bouquet Toss]] reversal.

** Not to mention the sticky bomb, which sticks to a player, but switches place upon physical contact, turning matches into a game of "run away from the imminently exploding player".

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== [[Western Animation]] ==

* A special case in the ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy]]'' episode ''Sorry, Wrong Ed'' involving [[Funny Foreigner|Rolf]]'s [[Artifact of Doom|cursed telephone]]. [[Ted Baxter|Eddy]] takes the phone off Rolf's hands, and gets cursed. After "testing" the phone, the Eds go back to Rolf's and try to give it back. [[Cloudcuckoolander|Ed]] says the trope's name, and then [[Teen Genius|Edd]] gets tossed around along with the phone.

* A special case in the ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' episode ''Sorry, Wrong Ed'' involving [[Funny Foreigner|Rolf]]'s [[Artifact of Doom|cursed telephone]]. [[Ted Baxter|Eddy]] takes the phone off Rolf's hands, and gets cursed. After "testing" the phone, the Eds go back to Rolf's and try to give it back. [[Cloudcuckoolander|Ed]] says the trope's name, and then [[Teen Genius|Edd]] gets tossed around along with the phone.

* The reverse situation occurs in the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Vanessesary Roughness" between Perry the Platypus, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz and Ferb, Baljeet and Buford, and Candace to get a tube of "pizzazium infinionite".

* [[Seen It a Million Times]] in [[Looney Tunes]] and MGM cartoons (such as ''[[~~Tom and Jerry (Animation)|~~Tom and Jerry]]''), usually with bombs or lit sticks of dynamite. Often, a character will pull a [[Duck Season! Rabbit Season!]] and trick his nemesis into giving the object to him or taking it away.

* [[Seen It a Million Times]] in [[Looney Tunes]] and MGM cartoons (such as ''[[Tom and Jerry]]''), usually with bombs or lit sticks of dynamite. Often, a character will pull a [[Duck Season! Rabbit Season!]] and trick his nemesis into giving the object to him or taking it away.

** There was an interesting variation in a ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon, where a second item was introduced in this "game": a bowler hat which fell off the head of another cat (not Tom). Of course, eventually the bomb ended where the hat should be: on the second cat's head.

* On ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'', Skipper likes to play hot potato... with a live bomb.